Guild Wars 2

As the title says, I played a bit way back when the game launched but was playing wow too much to really enjoy GW for what it was and only made it to about level 22 or so. I’ve recently come back and can’t believe the amount of stuff to do and content to enjoy in this game. With that said, I do feel like my leveling is going a bit slowly and was wondering the best way to use XP boosters that I have been awarded via packs/birthdays.

I have 2 Birthday boosters and 2 Experience boosters and would like to get the most out of them. I noticed that one of them says it works in WvW and was wondering if that was the best avenue to pursue or if I should just stick to going through zones and completing hearts/events.

I am open to pretty much any method (dungeons, events, questing, etc..)

Thanks for the advice!

Can’t say weather or not it’s the best method but I know sometimes people run event zergs. I ran with one in Queensdale once and got quite a bit of xp. If you happen to try this method I’d recommend equipping weapons that have the most aoe abilities so you can tag as many mobs as possible to maximize xp gain.

I just use a birthday + XP + food + utility and go clear zones. As you go, kill the yellow critters since the longer they stand around, the bigger an XP boost you get. Plus it keeps the killstreak boost going.

Really, anything you do in this game awards XP. If you need a break from open world stuff, switch to WvW for a while, or do some crafting if you have the materials for it, or map the home cities. It’s all good.

WvW does NOT give you exp but the reward tracks give you Tomes of Knowledge

The Experience Booster will increase reward progress so it does indirectly increase your experience gain in WvW.

WvW rank gain is a separate thing that doesn’t have anything to do with character levels. If your goal is gaining level using the Birthday Booster in there is wasteful.

shroomduck.7548:

As the title says, I played a bit way back when the game launched but was playing wow too much to really enjoy GW for what it was and only made it to about level 22 or so. I’ve recently come back and can’t believe the amount of stuff to do and content to enjoy in this game. With that said, I do feel like my leveling is going a bit slowly and was wondering the best way to use XP boosters that I have been awarded via packs/birthdays.

Doing hearts / dynamic events / vistas with the booster on is probably the best way to speed through levelling. Doing the story dungeons, when you get to them, is worth in the region of two levels each (from the XP from the content, and the tome at the end.)

Doing the daily event zones, if possible, and other daily completionist achievements is pretty good at boosting you — you get more XP and some boost items there.

Really, though, I’d suggest that if you find you are moving too slow for your taste while you level, you consider two things:

One, you might be able to improve your build — choice of weapons, skills, etc — to get through content faster. You might also be able to do that in a way that feels more fun, or to switch to another profession that you enjoy more, and find that it “feels” faster, even if it isn’t.

Two, even if you run to 80, odds are that you will eventually want to go back and get at least the waypoints, and probably at least a few “world completion” runs, which means you will be doing this same content later anyhow … enjoy it?

PS: if it’s too slow because the enemy are too tough, jump to another racial starting zone, and do hearts and events there for a while until your level goes up. XP rewards are the same everywhere, so fighting things far above your level is just slower, not more efficient.

I’m also a returning player who has a HUGE stack of Tomes Of Knowledge. I think I have enough to boost 2 characters to max level, near instantly, if they still work like they did.

My question is, being that content scales to level, should I just boost to max then run the storylines for rewards/gear/lore? Or should I just level the old fashioned way?

Have any mechanics changed so that my above ideas are complete garbage in today’s day and age? :P

Feel free to level up then go back and do the zones and story. Having everything unlocked – skills and traits, exotic gear – then lets you experiment with weapons and builds, which I find enjoyable. Other than getting story rewards which you won’t use – level 20 gear for your level 80 – there isn’t much of a penalty. Plus you can run through the story from start to end without having to gain 10 levels for the next chapter to unlock.

And, of course, feel free to tackle level 80 content as well.

theerrantventure.9185:

I’m also a returning player who has a HUGE stack of Tomes Of Knowledge. I think I have enough to boost 2 characters to max level, near instantly, if they still work like they did.

My question is, being that content scales to level, should I just boost to max then run the storylines for rewards/gear/lore? Or should I just level the old fashioned way?

Have any mechanics changed so that my above ideas are complete garbage in today’s day and age? :P

I’d strongly encourage you to spend a bit of time in the 65+ zones before you hit HoT and living story content, just to smooth out the difficulty curve a bit, but … it’s up to you. There is absolutely no problem just boosting up if you have the tomes and all, in terms of what you can do and/or enjoy.

The only real pain point turns out to be folks who come in, boost to 80, jump into HoT, and find that the enemies — which actually play smarter than anything in core, and hit pretty hard, especially in the “glass cannon” meta builds — stomp them.

HoT is not, like, Dark Souls difficulty, but it’s certainly hard enough to be a bit of a shock if you just dive in. So … take that as you will. If you spend a bit of time getting used to skills, dodging, etc, in core tyria high level zones, you should do just fine though.

(and by the time you have the basics down, it’s pretty transferrable to the next character; I didn’t have nearly as much trouble on alts as I did on my first character into HoT, for example.)

Personally, I would save them for Core Tyria Masteries, unless you don’t have Heart of Thorns and are sure you will never acquire HoT, or other expansions.

The journey of first leveling up a character only happens once; take the time to enjoy it. You will probably be glad you did.

Welcome return, and good luck.

There is absolutely no need to rush, you won’t miss anything. Just enjoy the game and it’s content. Leveling is probably the best and most remarkable experience in Guild Wars 2 (after raids).

Personally, I learn a class better when I get the traits and skills gradually. I have really struggled to, get a good grip on both my Thief (boosted from 30-ish) and Mesmer (tomed a lot in low levels and from 50-ish to 80), so for me it’s best to play a level or two between each tome if it’s a new class.

If instead you work better with having everything from the start, toming up and then doing story/maps is a good idea.